The volunteering shambles

WE ARE all used to the crazy edicts from British Waterways, and all know of its demand for volunteers, but the sheer stupidity coming to light could result in volunteering being doomed to failure, as Roger Guiver explains.

I met two very pleasant volunteers at the bottom of the Napton Flight on the Oxford Canal, alas one of them was not supposed to be there. He explained that he was allocated the Bascote Staircase Flight on the Grand Union.

Good place for volunteer

Good place to have a volunteer on a staircase you might say and I would agree. Far too easy for the uninitiated to waste a lot of water. Alas it was not to be, Health and Safety require all volunteers to have access to a toilet and none was available at Bascote.

It gets worse, the gentleman suggested to his boss he could moor his boat there and use his own toilet. The volunteer's boss said NO, but asked where he lived and could he drive home every time he wanted to go to the toilet, charging travelling by the mile.

Too expensive

His boss said too expensive, so the volunteer's boss then looked into placing one of those British Waterways work boats with its own toilet at the flight, but was told that none were available as most had been sold.

The volunteer's boss then suggested that they were looking at hiring a portable loo, alas too expensive. So, forget Bascote, join your fellow volunteer at Napton . Good place for volunteers to sort out the mess that often occurs half way up the flight with short pounds and bridge holes to impede passing boats. Alas no, far too far from the toilet at the bottom of the flight (and the car park), hence the reason one was operating the bottom lock and the other the second!

Not enjoying it

Were they enjoying their volunteer experience? Not really, they were both volunteers at the National Trust and thought they were appreciated there, alas not on the canals, no one seemed to know how to manage them. I wonder who managed the issue of their waterways sweatshirt, life jacket and aluminium windlass, and who's budget paid for them.